ntsqd
Well-known member
Seeing that crush sleeve I'm hoping that you have a solid pinion bearing spacer?
Justin, reach out to Todd and TCE again. He, rich Bogart and myself are the guys that developed the 15” conversion package for the modern dodge stuff, he might be able to help you out. Going 15” was a total game changer for us.Well I ended up ordering 3.73 ratio. Install kit with bearings so I can use the old pinion bearing for setup.
It's really 1st gear traction that is liming factor. The bias ply slicks I have are taller than street tires, but they are old I and I see there are no more 16" slicks. I had to grind brake calipers to fit a 16, 15 is a no go. So plan going forward is to just run the 17" drag radials and see how it goes. 3-4 shift at 6500 yields 5000 in 4th. 120 MPH is 5900 with 3.73. If I can get a 1.6x 60' it should pick up three tenths or better.
Please explain further. I get CS is one use only, but it is not needed to set up pinion depth. I hope to not be back into this diff again.Seeing that crush sleeve I'm hoping that you have a solid pinion bearing spacer?
Thanks Cam. So a rotor/caliper swap to clear a smaller wheel. Interesting.Justin, reach out to Todd and TCE again. He, rich Bogart and myself are the guys that developed the 15” conversion package for the modern dodge stuff, he might be able to help you out. Going 15” was a total game changer for us.
Yup and in our case shorter swaybar endlinks and toe link arm bushings so those fit within the ID of the wheel. If there’s a solution out there for your ride, Todd will know the details. Tell’m I said hey.Please explain further. I get CS is one use only, but it is not needed to set up pinion depth. I hope to not be back into this diff again.
Thanks Cam. So a rotor/caliper swap to clear a smaller wheel. Interesting.





Most guys use a three stone hone originally for brake wheel cylinders to get the small amount of clearance you’ve looking for.
That sounds like an reasonably accurate approach to this situation! Just set the bearing on some parallels on the table of the drill press (mill if you have one) and set height and just let the machine do the work! Quill stops may be needed if the bearing is longer than the stones. Unfortunately not all drill presses have that much needed feature. HarryI tried that, it was wonky at best. Hard to keep the stones from popping out of the bore if I was going to generate a consistent diameter ID. Perhaps in the hands of someone much more patient than I.....




even my total worn out 1944 2N tractor is tractor therapy. Did not realize how much I needed it until after purchase. Quite a few months I was using it nearly daily. Now that the weather has turned cold with rain not so much . . Maybe it's raining because I have not ridden it in a whileI commented to my wife that I had some 'tractor therapy' doing the dirt work after a long day in the office.
She replied 'a therapy tractor? You need a therapy tractor?
I just said 'yes'.
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Will inherit one of those some day, a '38.even my total worn out 1944 2N tractor is tractor therapy. Did not realize how much I needed it until after purchase. Quite a few months I was using it nearly daily. Now that the weather has turned cold with rain not so much . . Maybe it's raining because I have not ridden it in a while
It's easy to just try the shims until preload is met with non-locking nut.One trick that may or may not be any help is to install the crush sleeve per normal procedure, and then remove it. It will 'grow' a little upon removal, but measuring it gets you pretty close to what the final spacer + shims thickness needs to be for your first try.
I have read that bearing splitters are designed to be used to separate a bearing from a shoulder where there is no edge of the inner race to grab. Lay the "chisel edges" of the splitter on the parting line and alternate tightening the bolts until the bearing moves off the shoulder.
I have never seen a splitter mfg say this as I've honestly never looked, so I dunno if it's true, but it does seem like it could work.



Will any of these girdles work in the IRS application?
Thanks Mike.Nice job on the gear work Justin.
If you start doing many gears, may I suggest the bearing removal tool. While bearing separators work well in some applications, the parting seam between the bearing's inner race and the carrier are not always accessible to allow the bearing splitter to reach down into.
I purchased my bearing tool from Randy's Ring & Pinion about 7 years ago and wish I would have bought it 20-years ago, although it wasn't something that was available back then. It works that well though. I believe the one that Randy's sells is marketed by Yukon but there are several others now and they all pretty much are identical, just pick your color basically as I don't think any one is better than another.
As for setting up the crush sleeve eliminators (CSE), I have found that once I set it up to zero lash, subtracting about .002"-.003" will net you around 15-17 in/lbs. of preload. So if shooting for the 25 in/lb. neighborhood you may try removing .004" from zero lash for starters. I also don't use the CSE when mocking up the gear patterns as it won't change anything from having the bearings at zero lash.
The CSE kits generally come with a thick spacer as the main, then an assortment of various thickness shims to get you to your target. Juggling these around will generally let you hit your target. However, I've had situations where even a thou or so can go from being on the tight side of 25+ in/lbs. to the low side of 9~ish in/lbs. of preload. In those instances I take the shim and lightly sand one side. By only taking .0005" off it can net me the exact pinion preload (PPL) that I'm looking for.

Might be out in esoteric land, but seeing ZM's pic above triggered a memory. The 8.8 carrier bearing caps are also known to stretch. I had this happen towing a Subaru on a U-Haul trailer ~500 miles. Did it on 395 between the KA desert and Carson City, NV with the then ~220k miles old 5.8L in the '96 Bronco. The fix/cure was that Mark Williams makes replacement billet steel bearing caps that are a LOT more stout. IF they'll fit your IRS diff they may just be a solid upgrade, but their install does require some careful measuring and milling. If you decide to do this I'm happy to send you the special tool supports that I made to level the caps in a mill vise.
Thanks for sharing that. I went and measured the assembly, I get a CPL resistance increase of 5.5 in/lb.Justin, another option is to use a differential cover with preload bolts that push in on the bearing caps after the cover is installed. I think I have a few pictures of both a GM squarebody truck as well as a Ford 8.8 using these covers in my thread. I've used several from manufactures such as Moser, B&M and I think even Summit Racing and Jeg's have house branded ones now. They work well to keep the carrier where it should be and provide just a little extra bit of support to the caps.
Also keep in mind that carrier preload is paramount in building not only a durable differential, but one that will provide a long and reliable life. That pinion bearing is always trying to push the ring gear away from it and if the carrier doesn't have the proper preload, under high torque conditions that ring gear can be pushed away just a few thousands and that is enough to make the teeth run up towards the face of the tooth, which is the weakest point, and not down near the flank where they were set up and designed to run.
I like to see another 5-7 in/lbs. of carrier preload (CPL) to my pinion preload (PPL) knowing I have proper carrier shims in place. If you follow my thread you will see how much of a proponent I am of using a case spreader to arrive at the proper carrier preload.
Yes Ford racing makes an IRS heavy duty cover with cap supports for the 99-04 Cobra 8.8 IRS. Back when I did the initial IRS/suspension overhaul I went the steel cover brace route and it has held up. They won't work together. Can always use more speed partsWill any of these girdles work in the IRS application?







Hope you have a great trip. I'll wave at you as you pass milepost 100.Planning to go on a 3 day off road adventure (aka car camping) this weekend. In Florence area (Box/Martinez canyon) which is the closest place with decent trails to me. Should have around 7 trucks total. Plan to spend most of the daylight running trails. Then campfire, beverages and exaggerated stories.
Last attempt was a big letdown with transmission failure after a lot of work on the truck and camper. Prep for this trip is minimal, which is somewhat of the goal of this truck. I was able to install the bed platform and camper shell in 10 min. I spent some time previously organizing and finding totes or bins that fit nicely so most everything other than food is ready to go.
I did find a use for the one extra/unused switch in the camper and some left over red LEB strip. Pre-combat lighting.
Too bright so have a dimmer on the way.
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